I do not know why, but we always believed in the invulnerability of our fleet, more especially since we heard that the Admiralty had refused to buy from Argentina the two splendid armoured cruisers Nisshin and Kasuga, saying that we were strong enough without them. (This may be a misconception, but I am speaking of what we heard at the time.)
Having sent for the commander of the 1st Scout Detachment, I told him to proceed to Kerr Bay and the Ta-ku Shan Peninsula, to keep a look-out on the shore. I then lay down, and was just dozing of! when they called me again. Another telegram from General Glinski; it only contained three words: “War declared. Glinski.” This did not worry me very much. “Let them come first and destroy our fleet, and then they can land in Southern Korea,” I thought to myself.
However, I sent the detachment, and with it ten mounted scouts to act as orderlies. Early in the morning I went out on to the Nan Shan position, where, as I had expected, all the trenches and batteries were in a ruined condition, and in the winter, when the ground was as hard as rock, it would be extremely difficult to restore the fortifications. Returning from the position, I met an officer coming out of Port Arthur, who told me that three of our battleships had been blown up suddenly by Japanese destroyers.[3]
This news was a great shock to me. A landing was now possible, not only in Southern Korea, but even in our rear, and it was absolutely essential to hurry on with the strengthening of the position. But now we had nothing whatever to work with, and so I had to collect all the tools available in the town, which, thanks to the help of Captain Preegorovski, a very smart and energetic officer, was done remarkably quickly. I told off working parties, who set to work to restore the advanced trenches, but the frozen earth would not yield, and the shovels only served for throwing up the lumps of soil loosened by the picks.
Our first recruits and reservists arrived on February 16, and had all to be thoroughly drilled. According to our mobilization plans all the companies of the regiment, except the 1st,[4] should be at the disposal of the officer commanding, and orders were given accordingly, and the 5th and 6th Companies immediately called in, the latter having all this time been engaged with the Hunhutzes. The town of Chin-chou became so crowded that I quartered about half the companies in barracks behind the Nan Shan position, and had the regimental baggage transferred to Port Arthur, where I had hired a private house for its storage, the authorities having refused to give us Government buildings.
Some mounted scouts were sent out to watch the shore under the command of Major Pavlovski, commandant of the Gandzalinski district, and a section of rifles was also allotted to him under Acting Ensign[5] Shiskin of the reserve, as he had complained that the Hunhutzes had become so daring as to be threatening his quarters. We ourselves watched Kerr Bay and the bays adjoining by establishing posts and a chain of mounted scouts, the practice of hunting up the Hunhutzes being abandoned.
Now began a period of activity such as I had never before experienced in the whole of my service. We fortified the positions, brought up stores, instructed the recruits and reservists, of whom more than half the regiment was now composed, and, lastly, kept a look-out for the enemy, for which latter duty two hundred men were required daily. All this made the situation of the regiment a very difficult one, the more so, as the enemy was free to effect a landing between Chin-chou and Port Arthur, and cut us off from the fortress. For these reasons I considered our situation not only difficult, but dangerous.
The 3rd Battalion arrived on April 2. They were a fine lot of men. I quartered them in the town, and disposed the old companies in the villages situated in front of the position.
Major[6] Schwartz, an engineer officer, was attached to us to help us with the fortifications, and had brought money with him for the hire of workmen. From this time, too, we began practising manœuvring on the position while yet the enemy gave us a short respite, which we endeavoured to make the most of.
Sixty versts[7] from Port Arthur, on the isthmus joining the southern part of Kuan-tung to the mainland beyond, and occupying half the breadth of the isthmus, is some high ground cut up lengthwise and crossways by a number of deep ravines, which mark the well-known Nan Shan position.